Tracking events and trends in Israel, the U.S., Russia and throughout the Epicenter (the Middle East & North Africa)

I’m hard at work on the sequel to “The Third Target.” Here’s an update. (Also, our special simulcast on trends in the Mideast and Christian persecution is Sun, April 19th. There’s still time to register.)

(Central Israel) — Good morning and shalom from Israel. I hope you had a very special Passover and Easter season with family and friends. We certainly did here. It was our first time celebrating these two wonderful and important Jewish holidays as immigrants here in the Land and it was a great blessing.

Now I’m back hard at work again on my next novel. For the moment, it’s simply, “The Sequel.” We’ll announce the real title later this year. It’s the follow-up novel to The Third Target and should release in January 2016.

I’m working on the book every day in my home office here in Israel, which is also our family bomb shelter. Seems appropriate to write a terrorism thriller set in the Middle East in a bomb shelter in the Middle East, doesn’t it?

My deadline to turn the manuscript into my publisher is the beginning of May. So I’m hidden away, crashing to get it done on time. It’s going well. I’m really excited about the plot, which picks up after the cliff-hanger ending in the first book. As we get closer to the release, I’ll share more details about the storyline. For now, I’d just ask for your prayers that I hit my deadline!

Meanwhile, just a quick reminder that THE THIRD TARGET SIMULCAST is coming up on Sunday evening, April 19th. During the event, which was recorded before a live audience at a wonderful church in Tyler, Texas, in January, I discuss why I wrote the novel, the research I did for the book, the real-life threat posed by ISIS to the U.S., Israel, our Arab allies, and to the Church. I was asked a number of questions about the role The Joshua Fund is playing in helping people fleeing from ISIS, and coming along side the persecuted Christians in Iraq and Syria, as well as the powerful move of the Holy Spirit in drawing many Muslims in the region out of Islam and into a personal relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ.